24 Death-Defying Photos That Might Make Your Heart Skip A Beat

Prepare to have your heart skip a beat! From free climbing to scaling the world’s tallest buildings, adrenaline junkies have no notion of taking safety precautions.

The following 26 individuals were defiant when Death asked them about their plans. “Not today!” they all said. However, luck does not last forever, and we are sure this article will turn into a death list anytime soon.

1. What’s the worst that can happen?

They scale up sky-scraping giants illegally and take photos that are uncomfortable even to watch. All their efforts are made with only one purpose in mind – claim social media glory, and show girls their alpha nature.

This guy is one of the pros. You can tell it by the way he sits comfortably right on edge. Any sane individual would fear a stronger wind gust knocking him over directly in the arms of death.

Imagine this fellow walking out the door and telling his mother he goes to the “library.” The poor woman probably has no idea his son turned into an urban daredevil that grew addicted to adrenaline.

4. Painful breakup

Ever wondered about the best method to get out of a toxic relationship?

This clever guy took the expression “let go” literally, and brought his soon to be ex-girlfriend right on the edge. Can you imagine the emotional roller coaster?

The location high above the city is ideal for an unforgettable and irresistible proposal, and she probably went outside the window confident that her man will finally make a move. The surprise was complete when instead of the ring prince charming politely asked her to step over the edge.

You probably saw too many similar scenes having a happy ending to see this one through to the end. We hate to break it to you. This one is a cliffhanger, and we lack information whether the method proved successful.

Those fearing heights should close their eyes now. The next photo is nightmare material!

5. Skipping gym day … not even once!

Hanging from a rusty beam, hundreds of meters above the solid pavement sounds like an agonizing nightmare that has the potential to kill you in your sleep.

For one Russian teen, this was a dream come true but not because he had suicidal thoughts running through his head. His mind was set on something else when he signed up for the ride – get thousands of likes.

Pulling such a stunt is not only a test for the nerves, but also for your arm muscles. That’s why skipping gym day is never a great idea. As for the “keeping your calm” part, the “don’t look down” advice is your only alternative.

Check out the view on the next page! Would climb all the way for a shot at that?

7. Hold tight!

Free climbing is for obvious reasons one of the deadliest sport out there.

Not only do you have to support your body weight most of the time, but you do that while struggling to find a good grip on the rock, a surface more senseless than the girl who friend-zoned you.

The worst part of it all is you don’t allow yourself not a single second of admiring the view. An overhang is a formation that sends most free climbers packing their stuff and heading for home. But not this guy!

He went for it in pure kamikaze style. Is he still alive? Maybe, although cliffhanger situations are notoriously moody and can easily go both ways.

9. A parent’s worst nightmare

Are you grasping for the arms of your chair? Good! We do the same, as it is almost impossible to sit comfortably while knowing such a trap exists in the real world, patiently waiting for a next victim.

You could call it the Last Swing, or a parent’s worst nightmare. Suddenly, you start seeing things from a different angle. What if this is the most convenient way to get to the other side?

Don’t think of death, silly, but of the other end of the gorge. You can’t deny there is something profoundly romantic about launching yourself into the fog, and knowing the lush vegetation will cushion you at the end of the fall.

But it doesn’t! The only thing you get are branches slapping your face before the fatal crash.

11. The jump

Did that person decide to exit life in style? Was he/she pushed off the edge by evil tourists that wanted no foreign intrusion in their selfie? What happened is even more sinister!

There is one sport where people voluntarily jump off into the abyss wearing nothing but a suit. Still confused? Flying squirrels are the ones that inspired a wingsuit capable of offering thrill-seekers the biggest adrenaline cocktail ever.

Not only do you get to experience free falling, but you do it while flying agonizingly close to the cliff face, often squeezing through meter-wide openings.

If anything goes wrong, base jumping offers daredevils few seconds to say a prayer. It happens so fast it might as well not even hurt.

But it does, and the dozens of fatalities each year brings will advise you that base jumping into your bed for a nap is a far safer alternative.

It hurts just to see the next photo!

12. No strings attached

You know it is dangerous when the object keeping you alive is only a couple of millimeters wide.

Walking on a tightrope is like playing Russian Roulette with a full chamber. Your odds get even slimmer once you decide not to bring along a pole or have a safety harness tied to your waist. Things get impossible once you throw one of your legs into the air.

Nevertheless, this man probably had God holding him with an invisible hand because his stunt did not end friends and family paying the last homage at the cemetery.

Can you imagine the mental stamina you need to walk down such a path? Breath too hard and you are a goner!

Click next and you sleep will never be the same. We dare you!

13. Nightmarish sleep

We can accept climbing sheer vertical faces but to spend the night suspended above the hair-raising drop if for the cuckoos.

What happens if you roll over in your sleep? Can you imagine how terrible it must be for the cold air to wake you as you get agonizingly close to the edge? Or even worse, suddenly wake up at a lower altitude than the one were when you went to sleep.

It is hard to say if the couple is enjoying their morning or preparing for the night. Either way, the man is not confident about the position he is into. Something tells us he has a hard time coping with the situation.

14. Yoga geek went too far!

Admit it! You came across that photo with a motivational line written on it at least once

But did you ever stop to think that the girl who posed like that put her life at serious risk? Don’t get us wrong!

We have nothing against doing yoga in the morning while you admire the warm sunrise engulfing the city’s skyline. But for Pete’s sake, don’t practice your balance on the edge of a beam cantilevering hundreds of meters above the sidewalk.

15. The world’s most dangerous selfies

And they do it lured by the prospect of taking a death-defying selfie. We are curious what papa Putin has to say about this phenomenon that went completely out of control.

Most of us don’t dare to descend a stair without getting intimately with the handrail. As for these guys, they defy the sense of self-preservation by keeping only one hand on the antenna. And they don’t even look scared!

16. Train or free fall?

Did your girlfriend send you the pic telling you that is how she pictures your relationship?

Good! Reply to her asking whether she prefers the train or the free fall. That might raise her insecurities, but it helps to draw a clear line between what is romantic and what is entirely not safe.

We hate breaking it to you, but the couple that raised the bar that high has slim chances of surviving natural selection. Even if they ignored the instinct of jumping when the first train went past them, those railroad ties are certified foot traps.

Coming up next is the lamest way to risk your life.

17. And they paid for it!

Risking your life and having to pay for it. Dining hundreds of meters into the air doesn’t come cheap, and we know a lot of people for whom the life-threatening experience appears as a privilege only the fortunate could afford.

The worst part of it all is that they seem to enjoy it as if their danger sensor were numbed by the idea of having fun. We also can’t explain how those beer bottles defy gravity, but that is another story.

The next page reveals a disaster about to happen.

18. Boulder is the perfect trap

Stuck there for ages, the boulder that attracts thousands of tourists each year is the perfect trap.

We all have seen too many Road Runner cartoons to know how is this going to end. Eventually, someone will assume the role of Wile E. Coyote and set that rock loose, ruining a touristic hotspot and crushing the onlookers underneath.

How to make an unstable geological feature even more dangerous? Simple, just bring someone from the circus.

Seeing all those chairs piled on top of each other and the man struggling to maintain balance will make your heart skip a bit.

Check out a blasphemous way of risking your life!

19. When not even Jesus can save you!

However, the man that walked outside the righteous canonical path and scaled the statue of Jesus Christ should expect no divine intervention in case something goes wrong. On the contrary, people would immediately assume the worst – an act of retribution.

Christ the Redeemer is a landmark of Rio de Janeiro. Raising hundreds of meters above the metropolis, it is a magnet not only for tourists but also for powerful gust that often hit without warning.

The unsuspecting daredevil doesn’t need gale force wind to plummet to his death!

Are you still with us? A few more photos are coming up next, and no one died so far.

20. Hide-and-seek

However, we are obviously not talking about playing the game hundreds of meters in the air, onto the side of buildings. You can’t argue with the desperate mothers that want this dangerous trend to come to an end.

Hide-and-seek made our childhood better because we sweated adrenaline through every poor. Occasionally, a clever decoy gave us a pants-wetting scare, and we would jump right out of our socks.

Take all those elements and transplant them where only pigeons and crazy Russian teens dwell. It stops being funny when poor Boris plunges into the abyss, losing the game at the same time.

The next guy took someone with him for the stunt. It almost ended badly!

21. Testing friendships and … triceps

Logic tells us that the photo wouldn’t have made it online if the whole thing ended in a bloodbath. That is because the boot on the hand would have brought criminal charges.

The most crucial part about scaling buildings and taking such photos is knowing with whom you can hang out it. Not all of your friends are crazy enough to put their lives at risk, and, less obvious, not all of them are trustworthy.

This guy put his amigo to the ultimate test, basically triggering an instinct we all have somewhere hidden in our hearts – killing without a clear motif.

24. When friends let you down

Don’t try in vain to remember the physics you learned in high school. The situation is begging to go wrong.

Whether a long-forgotten feud resurfaces, or the plank breaks, it doesn’t matter for the guy defying the abyss. Sure, posting this online is sweet, but there is nothing to cheer when the shopkeeper below scrapes your blood off the sidewalk.